Live Now SEO Later for Consumers

Guerrilla marketing is experimental in nature and aggressive. Online marketing can be ‘in your face,’ but that’s just a figurative term. This summer a number of brands have decided to literally get in the face of brand fans, using buses, caravans, and even fire engines to interact with the masses.

A lot of marketing and advertising balances on the notion of bringing the target market to brand properties, whether that is storefronts, websites, social media accounts, etc. This summer, brands such as CBS, the History channel, Sauza tequila, and the Men’s Journal are taking their marketing endeavors on the road, coming directly at consumers.

The brands seek to emulate the behaviors of summer-time consumers, going to events, concerts, outdoor recreational areas, etc. “In these days of digital, high-tech, social media, we can’t forget how important the one-to-one is,” observes the president of CBS Marketing Group division.

CBS is taking part in the festivities via the CBS Buzz Tour, making 60 stops around the nation, promoting programming, giving away freebies, and hosting meet-and-greets with several stars. Some of the stops planned include The Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, the Comic-Con in San Diego, and the Minnesota State Fair.

The offline perspective is great; yet, live moments (as fun-filled as can be) also fade in time. It’s a better idea to elongate experiences and sentiments of consumers through online vehicles, such as social media.

CBS is on it! It will create a hash tag on Twitter so online viewers can trace the location and progress of the road campaign. Additionally, CBS will host an online Web series highlighting Buzz Tour events and interactions.

Another brand is taking its product on the road, but these products are not celebrities, they are Porsche sports cars. Porsche has aligned itself with former-football player, Dhani Jones. Jones will drive the 2013 Porsche Boxster S from New York to Birmingham, Alabama in ten days.

Again, the brands are on top of the off-to-online endeavors. Regular reports are to be hosted on the Porsche Facebook fan page and Porsche website. Additionally, there will be an eight-week Web series on mensjournal.com (Men’s Journal is another sponsor of the event).

I’m interested to trace the final results of these brand-led road trips. The off-to-on dynamic makes sense from a marketing viewpoint. Connecting with people is at the heart of marketing; yet, all brands cant’ interact with customers like a consumer’s local coffee shop can.

However, this summer, some fans will get a live taste of brand interactions, while scores of others can closely track all the live gesticulations through their computer screens, as the brands attempt to recreate and preserve those live sentiments online.